If you're pondering how you're going to get where you want to be, there are some simple steps you can take that will help you create your own career development plan. Let’s not be confused by the word “simple.”
Related:The Importance Of Having A Solid Career Plan
Sometimes the simplest of concepts or steps can be tough to do because they require some thinking and some effort. Yet, your think time and effort are an investment in your future and happiness, which make it all very worthwhile.

Feedback V.S. Feedforward

Feedback is defined as the return of information about performance, a process, or an activity. Whether we like to receive it or not, feedback is an essential part of career development. If you don't know how you've been doing, how will you know where you need to improve, grow, and develop? Feedback is a look backward, it's the review of what has been done. Yet, the most important factor in receiving this information is determining what you'll do with it moving forward.
Marshall Goldsmith coined the term "feedforward" as an alternative to feedback. This is the process of giving someone suggestions for future improvement. Rather than looking backwards at what they have done in the past. My experience is both are vital aspects of career development. You want to seek input from your manager (or a mentor or a respected colleague) not only on how your performance has been in the past but also get input on improvement suggestions to use in the future.

Start/Stop/Continue

A great way to ensure you get information that touches on both past and future is to use "start/stop/continue" questions. These questions would be posed with regard to your career development. So, relative to where you're looking to grow in your career, ask the following questions: "What should I start doing?", "What should I stop doing?" and "What should I continue doing?" The answers to these questions comprise both a backward look and a forward look at performance and development.
For example, if you want to develop better negotiation skills, you'd ask, "What should I start doing that will enable me to improve my negotiation skills?" The feedback part of the response could be, "You haven't yet had enough opportunities to negotiate significant contracts with customers." And, the feedforward part of the response could be, "Why don't you sit in on some negotiation meetings with the vice president of sales and then, as you gain confidence, begin negotiating with customers on larger contracts."
Having information about past behavior is really only useful if we are able to use it to continue to excel or, make necessary changes that help us improve and grow. Although we cannot change the past, we can certainly use past information to help change the future. Using these types of questions about your performance and career development allows you to get input in the form of feedback and feedforward. This is essential for you to grow your career.